Combined automatic floor and safety-clutch for elevators



(No Model.)

T. H. "WOOIL COMBINED AUTOMATIC FLOOR AND SAFETY CLUTCH FOR ELEVATORS.

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, ATTORNEYS.

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Uwirnn STATES Parser @rrrca THQMASH. WOOD, OF PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA.

COMBINED AUTOMATIC FLOOR AND SAFETY-CLUTCH FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,390, dated February12, 1884: Application filed July 16, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS H. Wool), of shown in section. Philadelphia,in the countyof Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew andImproved Combined Automatic Floor and Safety-lutch for Elevators,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion.

The object of my invention is to provide a.

new and improved safety-floor for elevatorshafts, which floor is openedand closed automatically by the car as the same rises and (la scends,and with which devices -for opening and closing the floor asafety-clutch is combined, which holds the car in place whenever thecable by which the car is suspended breaks or gives way.

The invention consists in flexible floor-sections adapted to close theelevator-shaft, which sections are secured on drums provided. at

' the ends with cog'wheels, which canbe operated by racks projectingfrom the top and bottom of the car, whereby the floor-sections can beopened and closed as the ear descends and rises.

- the sides of the shaft, which two racks are atcorresponding parts inboth the figures.

tached to angle-levers pivoted on the sides of the elevator-car, at thelower part of the same, the upper ends of theangle-levers being securedto ropes united with a cable for raising the car, whereby, when the saidcable breaks, the angle-levers will be released, and aspring acting onthesame can press one of the racks against the ratchet-bar of theelevatorwshaft, wherebythe descending car will be arrestedand heldinplace. l

Theinvention also consists in various parts and details, andcombinations of the same, as will be fully described and set forthherein after.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicateFigure 1 is a longitudinal side view of part of an elevator-shaftprovided with 1nyin1- proved safety-floor and clutching device, partsbeing shown in section. Fig. 2 is an elevation-- of the same, partsbeing broken out and others The sliding floor for closing the shaft ateach floor of the building consists of two sections, A A, formed of aseries of parallel strips, a, hinged together at the longitudinaledgesin such a manner that the said sections A will be flexible, and'can eachbe wound on a separate drum, B, journaled in the frame-work of theelevator-shaft, parallel with the strips forming the sections, whichdrums are each concealed by a curved casing, B. Each drum is provided onone end with a cog-wheel, 0, rigidly attached thereto, and between theend of the, drum and cog-wheel a belt-pulley, D, is ar ranged, overwhich a cross rope or belt, E, passes, which passes over a belt-pulley,F, made integral with a cog-wheel, G, arranged above the floor H, thevertical plane of the cogwheel G being parallel with the vertical planeof the cog-'wheel O, and the said cog-wheelG being a short distance, inthe direction toward the center of the drum B, from the cog-wheel O, Thepulleys F and D are one above the other.

lf'the cog-wheel G is turned, the druinB will be turned with it, and thefloor-section Awill be wound on the drum B, or unwound from the same,the side edges of the sections A being suitably guided in grooves in thehorizontal beams J at the openingin thefloorH. The cog-wheels G on theends of the drums B are so arranged that they will be diagonallyopposite each other. The elevator-car K,which is suspended by the'cableL, is provided at diagonally-opposite points with racks M, projectingabove the top of the car, and so arranged inrelation to the cog-wheels Othat when the car rises or descends the said racks can engage with thesaid cog-wheels and can rotate them. The racks N, projecting from thebottom of the car at the same sides at which racks M are fastened, aresecured to angle-levers O, pivoted in recesses O in the bottom cornersof the sides of the car, and to the upper ends of the said levers Oropes I are attached, which pass through grooves P in the sides of thecar to the top of the same, the said ropes P passing over suitable guidepulleys, b b.- The upper ends of the ropes P are attached to across-plate, Q, secured to the hook L, fastened to the lower end of thecable "L,

- T' are fastened, which. are provided with upwardly-projecting teeth.With each rack N a rack, W, having down-wardlyprojecting teeth, .is madeintegral, the said rack W being so arranged that it can engage with theupwardly-projecting teeth of the corresponding rack T. A spring, U,contained in a-recess, U, acts on the upper end of the lever O andpresses the same outward, whereby the rack W will be pressed in thedirectiontoward the rack T. The pulleys F and D are provided with arubber covering to prevent slipping of the belt or rope E; or, in placeof the pulleys, sprocket-Wheels can be used, and a chain can be used inplace of the belt or rope E. The elevator-car can be of any desiredconstruction. The strips a have their longitudinal edges beveled on theunder surfaces to facilitate the rolling of the sections, and eachsection A is provided at the outer edge with a check-lug, d, whichstrikes against the edges of the floor at h and prevents the flexiblefloorsections A from being wound too far on the drums B. The sections Aare provided at the middle of the inner edges. with a recess, throughwhich the cable L-can pass.

The operation is as follows: As shown in Fig. 1, the floor-sections Aclose the shaft, and if the elevator-car K rises the racks M will engagewith the cog-wheels G, and will rotate the same and the drums B in thedirection of the arrow a, whereby the flexible sections A will be woundon the drums B, thus permitting the car to pass. After the car haspassed,the racks Non gage with the cog-wheels G, and also rotate them inthe direction of the arrow a, whereby the cogwheels G and their drums Bwill be revolved in the inverse direction of the arrow at as the belts Eare crossed. If the drums B are rotated in the direction of the arrowat, the floor-sections Awill be moved across the opening of theshaft,which is thus closed. If the elevator descends, the bottom racks,N, revolve the cog-Wheels G in the inverse direction of the arrow a,whereby the cogwheels Gwill be revolved in the direction of the arrow a,and the sections A will be wound on the drums B, thus opening theelevator-shaft. After the car has passed downward, the racks M revolvethe cog-wheels O in the inversedirection of the arrow a, whereby theflexible sections are moved across the shaftopening, which is thusclosed. By means of the above-described device the elevator-car can openand close the sliding floors of the shaft as it rises and descends.The'floor-sections A may be very easily moved, there is no undue strainon the cable L, the car K is not jarred or jolted, and theelevator-shaft is closed at each floor. Accidents by persons fallingdown the elevator-shaft are thus prevented to a great extent, and incase of fire the elevator-shaft is not apt to act as a flue to conductthe fire to the upper stories of the building. The ropes P are soarranged that when the cross-piece of the eye R rests on the bottom ofthe hook L the ropes P will be drawn upward sufficiently to compress thespring U, and thus throw the lower ends of the racks N W outward fromthe racks T, so that the racks W cannot engage with the racks T, andthus not interfere with the rising and descending of the elevator-can.If the cable L breaks or becomes released from the winding-drum, or anyother part which holds the cable L taut gives way, the springs U willnot be held compressed by the ropes P any longer,

and will throw the upper ends of the levers O outward, thereby throwingthe racks XV against the racks T, so thatthe teeth of the two racks canengage, and will thus hold the elevatorcar in place. The car is thusprevented from dropping to the bottom of the shaft in case the cablebreaks or any like accident happens. The safety device does notinterfere in any way with the free and easy movement of the car whenrising or descending.

In place of the sections A, made of strips hinged together, flexiblefloors made in any other-suitable manner may be used.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patcut- 1. Flexible floor-sections for closingelevatorshafts, combined with drums on which they are adapted to bewound, racks on the elevator-car, and cog wheels connected with thedrums, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purposeset forth.

2. The combination, with flexible fioorsections for closingelevator-shafts, of drums on which the sections are wound, cog-wheels onthe said drums, cog-wheels journaled in the frame of the elevator-shaftabove the drums, pulleys connected with the upper cogwheels, pulleys onthe shafts, ropes or belts passing over the said pulleys, and rackssecured on the car, substantially as herein shown and described, and forthe purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the flexible floorseotions A, secured on thedrums B, of the cog-wheels G on the ends of the drums, the cogwheels G,journaled inthe elevator-frameabove the shafts, and in a plane parallelwith the plane of the cog-wheels O, the belts E, the belt-pulleys F,connected with the cog-wheels G, the pulleys D on the drum B, theracksM, projecting from thetop of the car and adapted to engage with thecog-wheels O, and the racks N, projecting from the bottom of the car,and

and described.

5. The combination, with an elevator-car, flexiblefloor-sections adaptedto be wound on drums,and racks arranged in the shaft, of theangle-levers 0, provided with the racks N V7,

the ropes P, secured to the upper ends of the levers and connected tothe car operating cable, the pinion G, and the belt E,connecting thepinion with the floor-drums, substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

6. The combination, with the car K, of the racks W, secured t0 levers O,pivoted to the side of the car, the springs U, the ropes P, the cable L,the elongated hook L, and the elongated eye R,substantially as hereinshown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

7. Flexible floor-sections for closing an ele- Vatorshaft, combined withdrums to which the said floor-sections are attached, and racksprojecting from the top and bottom of the car for revolving the saiddrums, which bottom racks are attached to pivoted angle-levers, and aremade integral with racks adapted to engage with vertical ratchet-barssecured on the side of the elevator-shaft, substantially as herein ihownand described, and for the purpose set orth.

8. The combination, with the flexible sections A, of the drums B, thecog-wheels G G, the belt-pulleys D F, the belts E-and car K, theupwardly-projecting racks M, the downwardly-projecting racks N, madeintegral or connected with racks V, and attached to the pivotedangle-levers O, the springs U, the ropes 1?, attached to the levers Oand to the elevator-cable, and the vertical ratchet-bars T,substantiallyasherein shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

9. The combination, with the drums B and means for rotating the drums bythemove ment of elevator, of the flexible floor-sections A, provided attheir outer edges with the check-lugs (Z, for limiting the winding ofsaid sections on the drums, substantially as herein shown and described.

THOS. H. W'OOD,

WVitnesses:

B. S. REED, AAR N Wool).

